If you are interested in learning to row and want to get your office colleagues or a group of friends to try it to – here is your ideal opportunity. Information for the 2015 Clydesdale Corporate Regatta is now online and available on the Corporate Regatta event page.

A small team of athletes from Clydesdale travelled down south last weekend to attend Marlow Regatta and Women’s Henley.

The quad of Danny Morris, Giacomo Galano, Euan Malone and Ryan Morrison had some great racing in the Senior Coxless Quad event on Dorney Lake at Marlow Regatta. After finishing 4th in the time trial, a very competitive final saw the Clydesdale crew finish a close 4th, behind a Windsor Boys crew and two Bath University crews.

The men await the start of their time-trial at Marlow Regatta

On the same day, over at Henley, the women’s Senior Coxed Fours crew of Anna Swan, Hannah Duncan, Zoe Wilson and Emily Clough were knocked out of the event by a crew from Tideway Sculler. It was a close race, with the winning margin recorded as just 2/3rd of a boat length.

The Clydesdale crew rows to the start of their race. Photo Claire Baillie.

In the hugely competitive Women’s Single Sculls events, Clydesdale was represented by 4 women in a field of 50. With Anna Swan and Hannah Duncan finishing 6th and 8th respectively in the time trial. The top club finalist was Captain Zoe Wilson finishing 4th in the ‘C’ Final.

In the Men’s Single, top club time triallist was Danny Morris, finishing 7th of the 61 scullers. Of the 8 Clydesdale men in the event, Danny finished 2nd in the ‘B’ Final, Giacomo Galano won the particularly competitive ‘C’ Final and Blair Ketteringham won the ‘F’ Final.

All in all, some very encouraging results for the club and a good platform to build on for further success. Our thanks go to all the coaches and supporters who assisted over the weekend – and to Twan for towing the boats!

The Olympic rings decorating Eton Dorney were epic reminders of the London 2012 races held at the Metropolitan Regatta course. Nonetheless water is water and wind is wind and there was plenty of both over the weekend with some bow sinking waves!

The Olympic Rings at Eton Dorney on a calm day – with Windsor Castle in the background.

Danny Morris and Anna Swan represented the club racing singles racing on both days. On Saturday Anna narrowly missed out on the IM2 final coming second in the reparge. Danny hailed success in the IM3 reparge with an inspirational sprint finish over the line taking him into the final.

Sunday saw Anna in the IM3 final where she led the race for the first 1800m just losing out to winning crossing the finish line less than a second behind the winner. Danny made it straight into the IM3 final with a strong performance in the heats coming fourth in the final.

Despite the long journey, both rowers were proud to represent Clydesdale ARC at this high profile event. The event website is here.

At the National Schools Regatta in Nottingham on Saturday, Clydesdale’s Giacomo Galano won the Junior 17 Single Sculls Event.

Giacomo collects his trophy from the medal pontoon after winning the J17 Final

In a competitive final, Giacomo led from the start to secure a winning margin of 3 seconds over the 2000 metre course. Giacomo’s performance at the weekend confirms why he and coach Chris Phillips have been invited to attend GB Final Junior Trials in July.

Official Results from the J17 1x Final

In addition to Giacomo’s win, Ryan Morrison overcame a lingering cold last week to secure a strong 4th place in the final of J16 singles. Here’s hoping Ryan makes a full recovery.

Euan Malone was competing in Championship singles and ranked 16th in a very competitive time trial.

All in all, it was a very successful regatta for the Junior Men’s squad – much credit goes to Coach Chris Phillips for all his work over the last few years in developing a strong squad.

Great weather on Saturday ensured that the return of the Glasgow Rowing Club Regatta was a successful one. A reduced entry due to the bank holiday and National Schools Regatta meant that the day was relaxed but thoroughly enjoyable for competitors and spectators alike.

Anna Swan on her way to winning WRes2 1x

Leading the Clydesdale roll of honour was Anna Swan, who won two glass tankards for her success in Women’s Open Singles and also Women’s Restricted 2 Singles.

A close race between Clydesdale and Inverness

David Allison and Alika Molloy won in Mens and Womens Novice Single Sculls respectively, whilst Captains Emily Clough and Zoe Wilson won in Womens Double Sculls. The senior women had some tough races in Veteran and Res2 Coxed fours and whilst they were pipped by the women from Inverness, Clydesdale won in Womens Res 2 coxed fours.

The Results from last Saturday’s Regatta are now available on the Regatta Page.

Phew! With more than 140 races over a 9 hour day, it was always going to be a challenge – but with meticulous preparation by the regatta team and the Clydesdale membership rising to the occasion and jumping into action to assist on the day – a fantastic day’s racing was had at our annual regatta on the Clyde. What’s more, it ran to time too! Huge thanks to our Regatta Organisers in particular Michele Foran and Amy Walton for all their efforts over the last few weeks.

With such a stacked programme of racing, the umpires had their work cut out keeping the event to time. Led by Senior Umpire Carol Wallace, they kept competitors in line and the event on time with their usual good humour, patience and professionalism and only the occasional disqualification.

Senior Umpire Carol Wallace oversees the Finish

We’d like to thank all the clubs on the Clyde for their logistical support for the event, whether hosting visiting clubs, enabling use of their steps and generally contributing to such a busy day. We thank the Humane Society for the provision of additional safety cover and also all the club members who manned safety boats throughout the day.

We thank the visiting clubs, particularly St Andrew BC and Castle Semple RC. Their enthusiastic spectators and cheerleaders combined with large entry across Junior and Senior categories help keep the domestic regatta scene in Scotland alive.

Enthusiastic spectators at the finish

As ever, we pay tribute to the purveyors of sustinence on the day: whether on the teabar or the BBQ – their efforts kept us all going. A firm favourite of our Corporate Regatta proved popular, with facepainting provided by Debbie Duncan.

Lastly, it is a source of enormous pride for me as Club President to hear so many kind words and compliments about the volunteers and marshalls on the day – the positive can-do attitude of the Clydesdale membership was again much admired.

A small group of members opened Clydesdale’s 2015 Regatta season at Nithsdale ARC’s 150th Anniversary Regatta in Dumfries. They day got off to an unfortunate start after some wayward steering of a crew heading to the start, resulting in a collision and capsize for the junior boys double. A technical difficulty in the junior mixed coxed quad after a commanding start was very disappointing. Later in the day Idris and Jamie recovered their focus and pulled two of the senior men down the course, not once but twice, to win in Men’s Open Quads – latterly against a much…more experienced…composite quad.

Idris and Jamie in their Junior double

The senior women had some good races in their coxed four and coxed quads, with a narrow victory over Castle Semple in a heat. The mixed quad struggled in the high seas of the afternoon and were beaten by a crew from Talkin Tarn.

Senior Women narrowly beating Castle Semple in coxed quads

In the Open Double, Gavin and Andrew led from the start and dominated against the crew from Stirling. All in all, it was a great warm-up for racing again at Strathclyde Park Regatta in two weeks time.

At the Club’s Annual General Meeting in October 2014, the membership approved the registration of the Club as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (“SCIO”).

We are pleased to announce that the Scottish Charities Regulator has approved the club’s application and Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club was registered as a SCIO on 27 March 2015. Existing members of the Club are now members of the SCIO and existing committee members are now trustees of the SCIO. We are in the process of updating our website and policy documents to reflect this change in status.

Club President Andrew McConnell said: “This gives our club a legal identity and charitable status at the same time, both of which will further support the development of our club and open up many new opportunities.”

Further information will be circulated to the membership in due course, but in the meantime please address your enquiries to the Secretary or President.